Leaderboard

When Firepower came out, I was really new as a fan, catching up with all their older albums. So, my coming around to Firepower took time, as I played catch up. Anyway, long story short, it was a rare example of a classic band releasing a career best-worthy album late in the game. Rush did it with CA, Styx with their last two albums, but Firepower really stood out as it felt like, honestly, the band had reached a new peak. And my f***ing god, the energy the band had writing Firepower has continued strongly. Invincible Shield is really breathtaking! I played the singles so much, any other band would have bored me initially with a new album listen. However great songs are great songs, and I loved them like I'd never heard them before. None of them were growers for me, and it appears this album as a whole isn't a grower. I loved it first listen, bonus tracks too. Absolutely incredible first listen. JP have back to back albums that sit perfectly alongside their many classics, and I think in years to come, they will be revered as them too. I don't do number ratings anymore, music is subjective and my reaction to an album changes over time. But if I tell you what albums I prefer the last two, the list is very short.

Judas Priest- Invincible Shield Firepower was magnificent. I think JP are on fire. They just released ANOTHER instant classic. I've played the singles endlessly for weeks. Normally that leads to a rather dull first time listen for new album, but I love all those songs, and the rest of the album is, honestly, faultless. Two classics back to back, impressed!

Judas Priest - Redeemer of Souls Judas Priest - Turbo Judas Priest - Unleashed in the East

I feel any coming arguing about "which album is better" regarding the last two is kinda redundant. For a band who released one classic after another for ages, can we all just agree...two albums of this majesty one after the other is cause for celebration

Another awesome album from them. I really believe that Richie Faulkner added a new jolt of energy into this band. No band should still be writing albums as good as this and Firepower so late into their career.

It's astounding, a monumental killer album. People say this about certain albums but in this case it's not exaggeration when I say there's no weak tracks whatsoever and in fact every single track is vying for the overall #1 song on the album trophy! Even the bonus tracks, Fight of Your Life could be the best song on the album, it's f***ing great! And Vicious Circle and The Lodger are immense as well. There's no let up in the quality on this album, every song has a killer riff, an amazing guitar solo (or two), it's like a best of album that you never heard before!

Judas Priest- Painkiller Judas Priest- Angel Of Retribution Judas Priest- Firepower Judas Priest- Invincible Shield This was a terrific listen! I skipped the Ripper albums and Nostradamus and Redeemer. These four albums really work well as a marathon! Had a great time with them all. Is it sacrilege to say, I sorta think Angel is my fave?

Judas Priest - Invincible Shield I think Firepower was better on first listen, but this is no disappointment at all. A reaffirmation that JP are still incredible. Particularly impressive guitar solos across the board, and somehow Rob sounds younger? Makes you wonder why more bands can’t be this great this late in the game. I imagine this will be a cut above any other new album from a “legacy act” I hear this year. For comparison, I’d spin this ten times before ever bothering with that latest Stones album again.

First playthrough and there isn't a weak track on the album. The title track is a beast.

Holy necropost, Batman! OK, now that that's out of the way, imo there have been three guitarists who been game changers in popular music. First off, Chuck Berry who showed the world that the guitar could be the focus of attention, sharing melodic and expressive duties with the human voice. Hendrix came along and said, "yes, but look what else you can do with the guitar". He took the guitar to a completely different level. EVH came along and said, "thanks for opening the door, Jimi, but look what else you can do with the instrument". Certainly there have been enormously talented players sprinkled in the mix - Lifeson, Gilmour, SRV, Paul Gilbert, and Billy Gibbons are among my faves - but Berry, Hendrix, and Van Halen are the three true pioneers, imo. Eddie would have to work far less to passingly cover the Working Man solo than Alex would Eruption.

Banana bread muffins for today, because the bananas that I had were nice and ripe.

This trade deadline is just crazy. AVS got Middlestadt from Buffalo but lose Byram to them. (Backstory Byram probably asked to be traded, he and Dylan Cousins were team mates in juniors). Avs need another center so let's hope he pans out. Then Johanson goes to Philly for Walker, and 2 more guys who I have no idea why they got them Guentzel did get moved to the Canes, rumors are Sullivan will be gone at the end of the season. A couple more hours left, it will be interesting to see who gets who in the last hours.

Saxon has some great albums (not huge on the latest). I enjoy modern Maiden, but nothing post-80s truly matches the classics for me.

Eye in the Sky - Alan Parsons Project

I’ll probably come back to it once or twice, but more than safe to me it reeked of a lack of new ideas. I’ve heard them do everything on there before better. And worse in places, certainly. None of it was outright bad, but that’s not very interesting either. Shame to see them and Blink not managing to find anything more interesting to do at this age, meanwhile their offspring have found great artistic success recently leaning into unexplored aspects of their sound. Paramore went post punk, FOB got expansive and cinematic, and Panic wrote a love letter to the 70s and 80s.

Judas Priest play…Judas Priest.

[An excerpt from satirist Alexandra Petri's "Interview with Measles". ] Now, it seems as though measles is everywhere. Florida. Michigan. Fourteen other states. How to account for its sudden surge in popularity? I sat down with the measles itself to find out. I had suggested we hike or do an outdoor activity, but measles vetoed anything too far out in nature, suggesting instead a number of intimate, indoor locations where large groups of people were gathered in poor ventilation. Finally, we settled on a café. Measles is there waiting for me, looking well-rested despite its whirlwind tour of classrooms and homes. It’s unprepossessing — tinier in person than you’d expect for such an impactful figure, but quite self-assured. I apologize for my late arrival. “Please!” measles says with a smile. “It took me decades!” Is this really the measles doctors warned me about? Every medical professional I interviewed described measles as “deadly" and “bad to have” and “objectively, terrible. Even if it does not literally kill you, it will hospitalize you, give you encephalitis and kill someone else. It is the Dr. Hannibal Lecter of diseases. Why are you giving measles column space?" To them, I said, “Don’t worry. No one reads print anymore!” I tell measles this. It laughs. Like many aspects of measles, its laugh is contagious.

I finished Paradise Regained and it was more accessible but less interesting than Paradise Lost. I skipped Through the Looking Glass and went to All the King’s Men. I’m a little surprised that this book is as highly regarded as it is. IT isn’t bad; in fact it is good. But the story is a bit scattered, the writing is repetitive and can be reductive (especially for female characters), and the author leans much too heavily on certain descriptions and phrases. However, once you strip away the uneven writing and incoherent philosophy, there is an interesting story and slivers of eternal truths. I haven’t decided whether to go back to Alice, choose a fun read, or finish another of my self-imposed homework assignments next.

The Serpent And The King is still my favourite song.

How time has changed my perception of theses songs. I like them all. However, upon release, I gravitated to the 'bigger songs' Dark Necessities, Goodbye Angels, Go Robot, etc Now my favourites are: Dreams Of A Samurai Feasting On The Flowers We Turn Red Detroit This Ticonderoga

Biko - Peter Gabriel

Making Memories

It wouldn't be so cheesy had they casted Martin Landau.

This is a cheesy space shooter but it has some good people Tcheky Karyo, David Suchet, Jurgen Prochnow and David Warner.

Mine's not as exciting. The Dead (2010) Slow moving zombies, just the way I like 'em. Bad acting, but I've seen worse.

Nyet! It says, "Carry on with the execution".

This was a weird one, it was set-up like it was comedy spy spoof with the soundtrack music to match but it turned out to be a drab, low key thriller with drawn out bloody death scenes. It was weird to see Niven get beaten up so many times and by little pipsqueaks half his size mostly. There was a hot French woman in it and she was the love interest but after going to great lengths to keep Niven alive she got got shot dead right at the end, which was a downer and yet Niven finished with a lame joke...

They're anticipating a base price for the 2wd of $45k. That version will definitely not be this quick. The super quickest AWD one will probably be $65-70k.

A Day in the Life - The Beatles

Undertow - TOOL

2007 - Zodiac

i'm saying the same about saviors bro. FOA is a fun wacky excursion. Savours is almost an apology after some backlash. it's safe. Haven't played it since release day honestly. Mick

Caligula’s Horse - Bloom Refreshing Big Big Train - The Likes Of Us Lovely Green Day - Saviors Middling… honestly FOA gave me more enjoyment.

Hawks trade Beauvillier to Nashville. He didn't last long, did he?

How will my 5,000 pound flying car get off the ground?

YouTube I have no excuse.

It started with big rains, then a couples of days got cold enough to snow. About 24" piled up, which meant lots of shoveling but great snowshoe conditions. The dog was very happy. Now it's warm again and the snow is melting here in the valley. Up high the snow really piled up, and spring skiing is going to be great. Another Miracle March!

Thanks Rita, try this one:

On the bright side, we didn't get to see Wagner's bald spot this time like we did after his fight with Johnson in the other game.

I read Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, and it was ok. I will tackle Through the Looking Glass soon, but I was a bit disappointed that the Disney adaption is so good. Meaning, there weren’t a lot of themes explored in the book, or different angles on themes. So, kudos to you, Disney! I also “finished” Paradise Lost. Really, it means that I’ve been through it once and have teed up the opportunity to really read it at some time in the future. It is very long, and in the vein of The Divine Comedy - basically taking the classic epics of Homer and Vergil and placing them into a Christian context with way more philosophical heft. The biggest problem for Paradise Lost was probably that I have recently read the Divine Comedy, and there’s almost nothing that Milton does better than Dante. Dante goes deeper, evokes more emotion, has better imagery, and has a much deeper philosophical and social exposition. This all sounds harsh for an epic poem I really enjoyed, but, as I said, it suffers by comparison. Anyway, I’m on to Paradise Regained and Through the Looking Glass.

I'm about 700 miles from my birthplace of Aurora, IL, give or take. Strangely, after we moved to Pittsburgh, we found out the neighbor kids down the street had also been born in Aurora with the same obstetrician. Friends for life (due to other reasons, but yes, friends 50 yrs later still ). Lived in many states after marriage (Scientists gonna science)

A Strange Habit of Mind, and the follow up, The House of Love and Death were absolutely enthralling stories. While there are touches of deep concepts which cause you to examine the depths of your own soul, there are also thrilling and compelling stories as pure entertainment. I loved them. Now I’m torn between Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, All the King’s Men, and Paradise Lost. I’m going to take the rest of the day off (and perhaps do some work) and see what fancies me tomorrow.

Still Zappa. Tried some Miles Davis and..........nope i'll just leave him for folks who can appreciate that stuff. guy's obviously a pioneer and a game changer but........whoosh......right over my head, lol Actually i highly enjoy listening to people talking about miles music more then his actual music Mick

Apparently I have too much time on my hands and started and finished the novella When Christmas Comes. It is a good crime drama with a bit of a thriller feel thrown in. I feel like it was made more as a movie script than a novel, but I’ve already started to read the next in the series, A Strange Habit of Mind. All the King’s Men will have to wait at least another few days.